Pawns
by UniversallyAcknowledged1813
Summary: The Host Club have returned to Boston following their eventful sojourn in Spain, but Kyoya's thoughts are still on the rebellious Nanako. Now—more than ever—Kyoya finds himself struggling to balance familial obligations with personal freedom, until a figure from his past arrives and threatens to tip the scales.


**Author's Note (1):** Just a heads up, I am taking some creative liberties with the mixing of the manga and the anime. I have not read the manga in forever, so most of the source material will be derived from the anime. That being said, the story is a continuation from the final installment of the mange, so the Host Club has just been in Spain and are currently living in Boston with Haruhi and Tamaki during their 2nd and 3rd years, respectively.

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**Chapter 1: Black & White**

"_Kyo-chan! Kyo-chan!"_

_ Little Kyoya Ootori ducked farther behind the hedge, clapping a small, chubby hand over his mouth to suppress a giggle. Through the leaves and branches, Kyoya could just make out fractured figure of his playmate as she wandered aimlessly around the park, occasionally calling out his name. _

_As the girl moved away from Kyoya's hiding spot, her filtered image became less discernable; it was almost as if the small girl was more mirage than flesh. Kyoya ventured a closer look, moving a few branches out of the way. The rustling of leaves was louder than he expected, and the noise stopped the girl in her tracks; she stopped and turned, her long, dark hair whipping around as she searched for the source of the noise. Even with detection imminent, Kyoya couldn't help but freeze, unable to move, desiring only to see the brilliant smile he knew would spread across her face the moment she discovered him; it was her way, but something was off. Her movements slowed, and everything grew hazy. _

_ Then, just as her face was coming into his line of sight—just as he was about to see that sweet, warm smile—_

Kyoya was woken violently by what he thought was turbulence until his vision adjusted, and he spotted Tamaki and the twins hiding behind a set of seats on the peripheral of his eye-line. He glared, and they crouched down farther to avoid his glare. Kyoya grumbled and turned over in the reclining seat so he was facing the closed window. He squeezed his eyes shut, desperate for sleep to claim him once more in hopes that he could return to his dream.

_If only I could see her face…_

The private plane—which was, by its very nature, small—lurched forward, and the whole craft bobbed up and down on the traitorous wind currents.

_ So, turbulence may have had a hand in robbing me of my sleep. Still…_

A private stewardess emerged from the service area to announce that they had begun the descent into Boston Logan International Airport. Upon hearing this news, Kyoya resigned himself to the idea that sleep was impossible at this point; instead, he sat up, retrieved his glasses and notebook, and began scribbling away. The contents of Kyoya's notebook were reputedly secret and for good reason, too, especially today; all he could write—over and over, again—was _her_ name.

De-boarding had been easy—one of the perks of owning a private jet, but the customs process was its own level of Hell that never improved with experience; still, it gave Kyoya enough time to call for a private car to take him back to the apartments in solitude, thereby avoiding the boisterous Host Club members.

_Former Host Club members?_ He was unsure. With the new romantic attachment between Tamaki and Haruhi, as well as their plans to stay in Boston for Haruhi's study abroad program while the others returned to Japan—not to mention Honey and Mori's recent graduation from Ouran Academy—it was unlikely that the Host Club would ever be as it once was. But if the Host Club was really over, what would come next? For the first time since middle school, Kyoya would be on his own—no Tamaki to push and pull him about, no club activities to organize, no numbers to crunch. Kyoya tried to reconcile his unease with plausible explanations, but if he was being honest, he knew Tamaki's absence would create a void in his life—a void Kyoya had been trying to fill since that fateful afternoon so many years ago when he hadn't yet known the value of the invaluable or experienced the hollow, meaningless existence that followed the loss of his own personal ray of sunshine.

They had less than a month left in Boston until Kyoya and the twins had to return to Ouran and Honey and Mori had to leave for university. At 17, Kyoya knew that a month could be either very long or not long at all. In this case, he felt as if he would blink and time would be up. In just one month, Kyoya would have to devise a new plan that would benefit him and impress his father, building on the good will he'd obtained in Spain, without transgressing to the shell he'd been prior to meeting Tamaki.

Kyoya had been brainstorming ideas without much luck since bidding farewell to Nanako. Their meeting had struck a chord with the young man, leaving him all too aware of the gaping hole forming in his life—an injury that only served to remind him of injuries past, namely…

…But it would not do to dwell on that. Kyoya had made his decision long ago, on that fateful afternoon, following a glorious day playing hide-and-seek in the park. He'd long since devoted himself to the Ootori name and his roll in that dynamic, giving up any childhood dreams he'd been foolish enough to have. Or so he thought.

_"…I don't think wanting to live one's life as one pleases is a bad thing. Three years ago, thanks to a certain boy, I realized that. Therefore, I won't deny having those feelings."_

His confession to Nanako had been honest and unexpected, both to her and even himself. His friendship with Tamaki had irreparably changed Kyoya. Whether that change was for the better was unknown. All Kyoya knew was that it had happened without him even realizing it and his discovery thereof had been triggered by Nanako's actions and desires to find a new role for herself—one that didn't involve arranged marriages and succumbing to familial obligations. He only realized how honest these feelings were later that night when, for the first time in many years, he dreamt of a past long forgotten and of _her_.

_"I have my place as the third son of the Ootori family they same as you have as the eldest daughter of the Shouji Family. Neither of us can escape those facts."_ But while Nanako had been granted her freedom, Kyoya knew—with every fiber of his being—that his traditional and duty-bound father would never grant Kyoya that same liberty. On the contrary, his father's rules and expectations were a heavy yoke that was Kyoya's burden to bear.

The car pulled up to the curb in front of the apartment building's curb. The other car was no where in sight, leading Kyoya to speculate that his friends had stopped for food. His stomach grumbled at the thought, so he exited the car and hastened towards his temporary home, mentally deliberating between delivery options and whatever could be found in his fridge or in Tamaki's, since he had a spare key and all.

Kyoya had reached his apartment and decided on a frozen burrito (convenience over quality), which had been heated and partially eaten by the time his driver had made the trek up to Kyoya's floor with his luggage. The burrito was finished by the time the bags were properly deposited in the common area, and the driver had been tipped accordingly and left.

_"Father, please listen. I have a path I must follow. I'm sorry that I cannot fulfill my role, but I will make a promise. I will never do anything to bring shame upon our family."_ Nanako's pleas to her father tugged at Kyoya's subconscious as he retreated into his bedroom. _"Since you first brought me to this country, I started embracing a dream that I must fulfill. Please allow me to." _

It had been a long time since Kyoya had dreamed, literally, anyway. How odd that his experience with the carefree Nanako had triggered this long-lost ability. If only his dream was within his reach, but for Kyoya, it wasn't that simple. He knew for a fact that following that particular dream would only bring shame to his father and lead him down a path away from everything Kyoya had worked so hard to achieve. He knew definitively that he would never be allowed to embrace that dream, let alone fulfill it; so, he would have to be content with the dreams that came to him in his sleep.

Kyoya had very little energy left once he'd reached his bedroom, opting to forgo pajamas and merely strip down to his briefs and climb in bed; however, he did take the time to open his notebook and stare at the words scribbled on the plane for several minutes, meditating on each loop, dotted "i," and crossed "t." When he could no longer fight the exhaustion international travel and a full belly inspired, Kyoya placed his notebook in the drawer of his bedside table, locked it, and turned out the lights. As he stared into the darkness of the room, waiting for sleep to overtake him, his eyes traced the ghostly image of the name he had written over and over, the name that he'd stared at, meditated over, and prayed would allow him to return to his dream on the plane, the name belonging to the warm smile he thought he'd forgotten, her name:

_Hisamoto Rini_.

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**Author's Note (2)**: Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please let me know what you think. I know this first chapter is a bit slow, but things will pick up in the next chapter (maybe more so in chapter 3, unless I combine them). For those who may be unaware, the names are formatted per Japanese style (based on preliminary internet research), so: Hisamoto (surname) + Rini (first name). Her character will be given a more formal introduction in the next chapter.

Please review. I love (constructive) feedback (and attention).


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